By Starlight
by ugleh 90
Summary: Harry/Draco slash. Harry must make a life altering decision. Who is there to help him make it? Perhaps not one we suspect...


Harry Potter walked up the stairs to the Astronomy Tower. Cloaked in invisibility and silence, he followed his feet up the all too familiar path. He climbed until he reached the topmost floor of the tower. There were couches here, and Harry would just sit back in the silence and dark and watch the stars through the clear ceiling.

Here in the shadow and silence, Harry could escape. Escape from the stares, and expectations, and masks, that were a part of daily life. The stars gave him a sense of freedom, of reality. A place where no games were played, and it didn't matter what happened outside the room except for the stars and the moon.

Voldemort was getting more powerful by the day, and so did his attacks. So many were dead and lost at the hand of the Dark Lord and his Death Eaters. Dumbledore had tried to keep the news from him, but, alas, Harry found out through painful visions from the scar on his head.

His scar. How he so wished he had never been given that scar. How he wished that Voldemort's curse had worked that day, that Harry Potter was not the Boy Who Lived but just another Boy Who Died At The Hands Of Voldemort. And that's when Harry thought about jumping.

He thought about becoming one of those falling stars he watched every night. Down he would go until he just disappeared. Harry stared at the stars in accusation. It wasn't his fault he was here, he didn't ask for the bloody scar, he didn't ask for the expectations or the fame or the hope or the faith that was all bestowed upon him. All he ever wanted to be was plain old Harry Potter, just another kid at school, who attended classes with the rest of them, who had a mother and a father and a family that loved. No, he didn't ask for this, and he sure as hell didn't want it.

Harry stood and walked to the edge of the room where the open windows were. He looked out and he wondered what it would be like to jump. A breif bit of falling and then a rather painful splat on the ground, but still it would be over. He wouldn't have to fight the Dark Wizard, he wouldn't have to save the wizarding world again, he wouldn't have to listen to the screams of long dead people in his nightmares when he actually, if ever, got to sleep. He peered out a bit further.

"Jumping, Potter?"

Harry whirled around to face the familiar voice behind him.

Harry's sighed tiredly, "Are you gonna stop me?"

Eyebrows were raised at the unexpected response, "You mean let Hogwarts' Golden Boy die and then be blamed for it?"

Harry sighed again, " No one needs to know that you were here."

Eyes stared at him in the dark, " Are you really gonna jump?"

Harry looked back out the window and then in a whispered voice, "It would be so easy, to just jump, to let it all be over. I wouldn't have to hear the cries of the dead, never have to replay the moments they all died. All because of me."

The voice stepped forward in surprise, "Is that what you think? That your the blame for the deaths of those people?"

Harry turned to face the voice again, "If it wasn't for me helping to bring him back..."

"If it wasn't for you he would have taken Britain long ago, if it wasn't for you then he would have been resurrected in first year, if it wasn't for you then the basilisk would have killed all those kids in second year, if it wasn't for you then I," the voice stopped.

Harry cocked his head to the side in question, "If it wasn't for me than you would what?"

The dark face looked and glittering eyes met Harry's, "Then I would have long since joined him."

Harry's mouth formed a slight 'o' and his eyes widened. He couldn't believe that he was the reason for this one person's salvation from the dark. Harry lips turned into a slight smile as he turned back to the window.

"Then I suppose you'll care if I jump?"

"Potter, what do you think I just told you?" the voice said as he stepped another step forward. He didn't want to provoke the obviously suicidal boy.

"I'm not needed anymore. I cause everyone around me pain, everyone's in danger with me around," Harry took another step closer to the window.

"The world needs you. Fuck, Harry, I need you!"

Harry turned around at the words, surprise evident on his face. Somebody needed him? Impossible. He was a danger to everyone. This one couldn't need him.

The voice continued, "Harry, I need you. You're my light, you're my guiding force, without you the whole world will go to shit."

"But I'm only a danger to everyone. Can't you hear the screams? They want revenge. They need it, they're left here without it."

"Then Harry we'll give it to them in the death of the Dark Lord. Harry, don't jump, please."

Harry didn't know what did it, but jumping wasn't such a great idea anymore. Maybe it was the please that did it? But now he knew he had purpose, Harry wasn't sure what it was, but if someone needed him then he must be here for a purpose, right?

And then Harry began to sob. He couldn't handle it anymore, he needed to cry. Harry slumped to the ground in front of the window, tears ran down his face in torrents and racking sobs could be heard from the boy. And as Harry felt arms encircle him and rock him, he could only think of one last thing.

"Why, Draco?"

The silver-haired boy look down at the raven-haired angel in his arms, "Because, Harry Potter, I love you."

Harry's eyes widened in hope, "Really?"

"Really, really."

And with those final words Harry snuggled into his former enemy's chest and fell asleep.

And Draco knew then that the story wasn't over, Harry was still unstable, a war was still raging outside the stone walls of Hogwarts and her towers, there were still battles to fight, on and off the battlefield, but in the end he would be at Harry's side helping him to get through it.

And as the silver-haired boy fell asleep with Harry Potter, a star blinked across the sky carrying a wish of hope and happiness with it.


End file.
